Willie McDaries
Well-Known Member
since I worked this up for JJ,figured I may as well up my post count as well 
I built this from left over material from my tank build so it was a freeby for me but it is more economical to use glass if you're building from scratch but this is how I built my sump
I started with a wooden box,built with 3/4" plywood,screw holes were pre-drilled and countersunk so to not split the plywood,I used 2 1/4" drywall screws spaced 2" apart,I used a polyurethane base construction adhesive in all the seams....I also used bondo to fill in any imperfections in the wood and filled the screw holes so it would be fairly smooth
it is only about 65 gallons but as big as I could build it and still be able to place it inside my stand
I then coated all the corners with fiberglass epoxy and embedded fiberglass mesh strips into the epoxy to reenforce the corners,after the epoxy has set a little while,I went back and added more epoxy to the flat surfaces and added more fiberglass mesh,overlapping the seams for added strength....
once the fiberglass epoxy had dried,I drilled it for the bulkhead to use an external return pump and painted the entire thing with Sweetwater epoxy paint to further waterproof it,once the Sweetwater paint was dry,it was time to leak test it,as you can see in the pics above,it holds water
I then drained it and started figuring out the placement for my bubble trap and float valve for the ATO system....
I used 1/4" acrylic for the trap and added a piece in the corner to hold the float,silicon was used to hold in all the acrylic....
and for a simple DIY ATO system,I used a 5 gallon bucket placed just higher than the sump and let gravity to take care of the evaporation
I use a ReeFanatic ATO system,to refill the bucket,it was getting old having to refill it every day...this little thing is awesome,I didn't want the sensors in my sump because of maintenance,I didn't want to have to keep 'em clean,used in the top off bucket,they stay clean this also keeps my RO/DI filter from having to turn on and off so often,I just placed a small pump inside my RO/DI holding tank,when the water in the 5g bucket drops below the bottom sensor,it turns the pump on and runs until the top sensor is tripped,once a day usually
since I was limited by space and couldn't build the sump as big as I wanted,I opted to have a separate fuge,I used a 20 gallon tall for that,I drilled it and installed a bulkhead and made an acrylic overflow in the corner,I just use this for chaeto,no sand or anything else in it,it is plumbed to drain back into the sump behind the bubble trap and fed from a Tee off my tank drain,plus I have a dual head propeller powerhead to spin the chaeto and added a 6500k spiral CF bulb for lighting
video of the chaeto fuge in action
[video=youtube;0swLeG-NsLg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0swLeG-NsLg&feature=plcp[/video][/QUOTE]
and if you've followed my tank thread,you know I no longer use the 20g chaeto fuge,I have since added a 90 gallon frag/fuge and have the chaeto in a plastic tote that fit perfectly into 1 side of the 90g but I still have the twin head powerhead spinning the chaeto at warp speed and I now use a 250w halide for lighting,it is growing a lot faster now too
I built this from left over material from my tank build so it was a freeby for me but it is more economical to use glass if you're building from scratch but this is how I built my sump
I started with a wooden box,built with 3/4" plywood,screw holes were pre-drilled and countersunk so to not split the plywood,I used 2 1/4" drywall screws spaced 2" apart,I used a polyurethane base construction adhesive in all the seams....I also used bondo to fill in any imperfections in the wood and filled the screw holes so it would be fairly smooth
it is only about 65 gallons but as big as I could build it and still be able to place it inside my stand
I then coated all the corners with fiberglass epoxy and embedded fiberglass mesh strips into the epoxy to reenforce the corners,after the epoxy has set a little while,I went back and added more epoxy to the flat surfaces and added more fiberglass mesh,overlapping the seams for added strength....
once the fiberglass epoxy had dried,I drilled it for the bulkhead to use an external return pump and painted the entire thing with Sweetwater epoxy paint to further waterproof it,once the Sweetwater paint was dry,it was time to leak test it,as you can see in the pics above,it holds water
I then drained it and started figuring out the placement for my bubble trap and float valve for the ATO system....
I used 1/4" acrylic for the trap and added a piece in the corner to hold the float,silicon was used to hold in all the acrylic....
and for a simple DIY ATO system,I used a 5 gallon bucket placed just higher than the sump and let gravity to take care of the evaporation
I use a ReeFanatic ATO system,to refill the bucket,it was getting old having to refill it every day...this little thing is awesome,I didn't want the sensors in my sump because of maintenance,I didn't want to have to keep 'em clean,used in the top off bucket,they stay clean
this also keeps my RO/DI filter from having to turn on and off so often,I just placed a small pump inside my RO/DI holding tank,when the water in the 5g bucket drops below the bottom sensor,it turns the pump on and runs until the top sensor is tripped,once a day usually
since I was limited by space and couldn't build the sump as big as I wanted,I opted to have a separate fuge,I used a 20 gallon tall for that,I drilled it and installed a bulkhead and made an acrylic overflow in the corner,I just use this for chaeto,no sand or anything else in it,it is plumbed to drain back into the sump behind the bubble trap and fed from a Tee off my tank drain,plus I have a dual head propeller powerhead to spin the chaeto and added a 6500k spiral CF bulb for lighting
video of the chaeto fuge in action
[video=youtube;0swLeG-NsLg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0swLeG-NsLg&feature=plcp[/video][/QUOTE]
and if you've followed my tank thread,you know I no longer use the 20g chaeto fuge,I have since added a 90 gallon frag/fuge and have the chaeto in a plastic tote that fit perfectly into 1 side of the 90g but I still have the twin head powerhead spinning the chaeto at warp speed
and I now use a 250w halide for lighting,it is growing a lot faster now too 
